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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
Hegde also seems to have benefited from the observations he made on contemporary traditional metal smiths. This gave him more insight into the intricacies of human behavior and its effect on artefact composition, leading to a degree of caution and reservation while drawing conclusions regarding provenance from compositional data. It appears that he had accepted the possibility of recycling of metals in Prehistory and had realized the importance of looking for the intricacies of human behavior and relating them with compositional data,
A survey through the methods of analyses he adopted in his research suggests that he was aware of the development at the global level and had tried to use the most recent analytical techniques emerging from time to time. Through using the most advanced methods he also demonstrated the scope of these methods in studying archaeological objects from India and the interpretative possibilities.
Ancient Indian Ceramic Technology, manufacturing of steatite micro beads and qualitative and quantitative analysis of ancient India lime plaster were other areas of his enquiry. His works on the ancient Indian deluxe ware stands as a testimony to the efforts hc put into resolve technological issues of their manufacture. He was one of the very few persons in the subcontinent to realize the potentials of using thin-section analysis in appreciating the clay paste texture of ancient Indian pottery. He also put in efforts to identify the pigments that were used in decorating the pottery and attempted a reconstruction of the firing conditions of ancient Indian deluxe wares through experimental reproductions. Such was his scholastic drive that he would actually test the feasibility of the theories about ancient manufacturing conditions that he constructed from compositional data by experimental methods before putting them forward.
The significance of climatic fluctuations during the Quaternary Era and its importance in studying the evolution of human cultures was another very important field to which Hegde also contributed. This field had begun to gain prominence in the carly to middle decades of the 20th century. The reconstruction of the ice-age sequence for the Indian Subcontinent by de Terra and Paterson had inspired many archeologists like Professor F.E.Zeuner and G.J.Wainright to initiate rescarches by integrating t disciplines of Geology and Archaeology in Sabarmati-Mahi basins. Towards the late sixties and early seventies, a mission was undertaken by Bridget Allchin, Andrew Goudie and K.T.M. Hegde to understand the geomorphology and archaeology of western India. The regions investigated by them included Gujarat and Raja interdisciplinary survey resulted in deriving information on the Prehistoric landscapes and cultural development in this region. The findings encouraged more such interdisciplinary interactions where scientists from different disciplines came together to pursue research in the much-neglected Quaternary period and its poorly represented geological formations in the Indian sub-continent. Now we are fairly familiar with the nature of rivers, lakes, deserts and other landforms during the Pleistocene Period. This
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